Shareware Grab Bag/Shareware Grab Bag.iso/090/newlang.arc/NEWLANG.TXT

Text File | 1987-01-17 | 13KB | 340 lines

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                           Humorous Tidbits #6:
                            Computer Languages
                       From The Enforcer & friends
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  Babbage - The Language of the Future

  Babbage is based on language elements that were discovered after the design
of ADA was completed.  For instance, C. A. R.  Hare, in his 1980 Turing Award
lecture, told of two ways of constructing a software design
 "One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies
and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious
deficiencies."

    The designers of Babbage have chosen a third alternative - a language
 that has only obvious deficiencies.  Babbage programs are so unreliable
 that maintenance can begin before system integration is completed.  This
 guarantees a steady increase in the DP job marketplace.

    Structured languages banned GOTOs and multiway conditional branches by
 replacing them with the simpler IF-THEN-ELSE structure.  Babbage has a
 number of new conditional statements that act like termites in the
 structure of your program.

    WhatIf - Used in simulation.  Branches before evaluating test
    ______   conditions.

    OrElse - Conditional threat as in : "Add these two numbers
    ______   OR ELSE !"

    WhyNot - Executes the code that follows in a devil-may-care
    ______   Fashion.

    WhoElse - Used for polling during I/O operations.
    _______

    Elsewhere - This is where your program really is when you think
    _______     its here.

    GoingGoingGone - For writing unstructured programs. Takes a random
    ______________   branch to another part of your program.
                     Does the work of 10 GOTOs.


  For years, programming languages have used "For", "Do Until",
  "Do While", etc. to mean "loop".  Continuing with this trend,
  Babbage offers the following loop statements :


    Don't Do While Not - This loop is not executed if the test condition
    __________________ is not false (or if it's Friday afternoon) .

    Didn't Do - The loop executes once and hides all traces.
    _________

    Can't Do - The looped is pooped.
    ________

    Won't Do - The CPU halts because it doesn't like the code inside
    ________   the loop. Execution can be resumed by typing "May I"
               at the console.

    Might Do - Depends on how the CPU is feeling. Executed if the CPU is
    ________   "up", not executed if the CPU is "down", or if it feelings
               are hurt.

    Do Unto Others - Used to write the main loop for timesharing systems
    ______________   so that they will antagonize all users in a uniform
                     manner.

    DOWAH - Used to write timing loops for computer-generated music.
    _____


 Every self-respecting structured language has a case statement to
 implement multiway branching.Algol offers an indexed case statement
 and Pascal has a labelled case statement.  Not much of a choice.
 Babbage offer a variety of case statements :


    Just-In-Case STMT - For handling afterthoughts and fudge factors.
    _________________   Allows you to multiply by zero to correct for
                        accidentally dividing by zero.

    The Brief Case STMT - To encourage portable software.
    ___________________

    The Open & Shut Case STMT - No proof of correctness is necessary
    _________________________

    The In Any Case STMT - This one always works.
    ____________________

    The Hopeless Case STMT - This one never works.
    ______________________

    The Basket Case STMT - A really hopeless case.
    ____________________

    The Babbage Language Design Group is continuously evaluating
 new features that will keep it users from reaching any level of
effectiveness.  For instance, Babbage's designers are now considering the
Almost Equals Sign used for comparing two floating point numbers.  This new
feature "takes the worry out of even being close".



   NEW LANGUAGES COMPETE WITH APL

       A Usually Reliable Source
       Digital Equipment Corporation
       Somewhere in New England

   APL, BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL,... these programming languages are well
   known and (more or less) well loved throughout the computer industry.
   There are numerous other languages, however, that are less well known
   yet still have ardent devotees. In fact, these little-known languages
   generally have the most fanatic admirers. For those who wish to know
   more about these obscure languages -- and why they are obscure -- I
   present the following catalog.


   SIMPLE

   SIMPLE is an acronym for Sheer Idiot's Monopurpose Programming
   Linguistic Environment. This language, developed at Hanover College
   for Technological Misfits, was designed to make it impossible to write
   code with errors in it. The statements are, therefore, confined to
   BEGIN, END, and STOP. No matter how you arrange the statements, you
   can't make a syntax error.

   Programs written in SIMPLE do nothing useful. They thus achieve the
   results of programs written in other languages without the tedious,
   frustrating process of testing and debugging.


   SLOBOL

   SLOBOL is best known for the speed, or lack of it, of its compiler.
   Although many compilers allow you to take a coffee break while they
   compile, SLOBOL compilers allow you to travel to Bolivia to pick the
   coffee. Forty-three programmers are known to have died of boredom
   sitting at their terminals while waiting for a SLOBOL program to
   compile.


   VALGOL

   From its modest beginnings in Southern California's San Fernando
   Valley, VALGOL is enjoying a dramatic surge of popularity across the
   industry.

   VALGOL commands include REALLY, LIKE, WELL, and Y*KNOW. Variables
   are assigned with the =LIKE and =TOTALLY operators. Other operators
   include the California Booleans, FERSURE and NOWAY. Repetitions of
   code are handled in FOR - SURE loops. Here is a sample VALGOL program:

       LIKE Y*KNOW (I MEAN) START
       IF PIZZA =LIKE BITCHEN AND
   B =LIKE TUBULAR AND
   C =LIKE GRODY**MAX
       THEN
   FOR I =LIKE 1 TO OH MAYBE 100
       DO WAH - (DITTY**2)
       BARF(I) =TOTALLY GROSS(OUT)
   SURE
       LIKE BAG THIS PROBLEM
       REALLY
       LIKE TOTALLY(Y*KNOW)

   VALGOL is characterized by its unfriendly error messages. For example,
   when the user makes a syntax error, the interpreter displays the
   message:

       GAG ME WITH A SPOON!


   LAIDBACK

   Historically, VALGOL is a derivative of LAIDBACK, which was developed
   at the (now defunct) Marin County Center for T'ai Chi, Mellowness, and
   Computer Programming, as an alternative to the intense atmosphere in
   nearby Silicon Valley.

   The center was ideal for programmers who liked to soak in hot tubs
   while they worked. Unfortunately, few programmers could survive there
   for long, since the center outlawed pizza and RC Cola in favor of bean
   curd and Perrier.

   Many mourn the demise of LAIDBACK because of its reputation as a
   gentle and nonthreatening language. For example, LAIDBACK responded to
   syntax errors with the message:

       SORRY MAN, I CAN'T DEAL BEHIND THAT.


   SARTRE

   Named after the late existential philosopher, SARTRE is an extremely
   unstructured language. Statements in SARTRE have no purpose; they just
   are. Thus SARTRE programs are left to define their own functions.
   SARTRE programmers tend to be boring and depressed and are no fun at
   parties.


   FIFTH

   FIFTH is a precision mathematical language in which the data types
   refer to quantity. The data types range from CC, OUNCE, SHOT, and
   JIGGER to FIFTH (hence the name of the language), LITER, MAGNUM, and
   BLOTTO. Commands refer to ingredients such as CHABLIS, CHARDONNAY,
   CABERNET, GIN, VERMOUTH, VODKA, SCOTCH, BOURBON, CANADIAN, and
   WHATEVERSAROUND.

   The many versions of the FIFTH language reflect the sophistication
   and financial status of its users. Commands in the ELITE dialect
   include VSOP, LAFITE, and WAITER'S(RECOMMENDATION). The GUTTER
   dialect instead has commands for THUNDERBIRD, RIPPLE, and HOUSE(RED).
   The GUTTER dialect is a particular favorite of frustrated FORTH
   programmers who end up using this language.


   C-

   This language was named for the grade received by its creator when he
   submitted it as a project in a graduate programming class. C- is best
   described as a "low-level" programming language. In general, the
   langauge requires more C- statements than machine-code instructions
   to execute a given task. In this respect it is very similar to COBOL.


   LITHP

   This otherwise unremarkable language is distinguished by the absence
   of an "S" in its character set. Programmers must substitute "TH".
   LITHP is said to be useful in prothething lithtth.


   DOGO

   Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Obedience Training, DOGO
   heralds a new era of computer-literate pets. DOGO commands include
   SIT, STAY, HEEL, and ROLL OVER. An innovative feature of DOGO is
   "puppy graphics", a small cocker spaniel that occasionally leaves
   deposits as he travels across the screen.



Here are some thoughts from Dijkstra article "How Do We Tell Truths that
Might Hurt?" in his book "Selected Writings on Computing" (Springer
Verlag, 1982):

FORTRAN, "the infantile disorder", by now nearly 20 years old, is
hopelessly inadequate for whatever computer application you have in mind
today: it is now too clumsy, too risky, and too expensive to use.

PL/I --"the fatal disease"--belongs more to the problem set than to the
solution set.

It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that
have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are
mentally mutilated beyond hope or regeneration.

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be
regarded as a criminal offense.

APL is a mistake, carried through to perfection.  It is the language of
the future for the programming techniques of the past:it creates a new
generation of coding bums.

The problems of business administration in general and database
management in particular are much too difficult for people that think in
IBMerese, compounded with sloppy English.

About the use of language: it is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a
blunt axe.  It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes
instead.

We can found no scientific discipline, nor a healthy profession, on the
technical mistakes of the Department of Defense and, mainly, one
computer manufacturer.

The use of anthropomorphic terminology when dealing with computing
systems is a symptom of professional immaturity.

In the good old days physicists repeated each other's experiments, just
to be sure.  Today they stick to FORTRAN, so that they can share each
other's programs, bugs included.


3 Biggest Software Lies:
  - The program's fully tested and bugfree.
  - We're working on the documentation.
  - Of course we can modify it.
3 Biggest Computer Room Lies:
  - As long as you remember to 'SAVE' your input, you'll never lose
    any files.
  - We run the stuff through as fast as it comes in the door.
  - The new machines on order.
3 Biggest Large Company Lies:
  - We have an entrepreneurial spirit here.
  - People are our greatest resource.
  - We say 'let the marketplace decide'.
3 Biggest Small Company Lies:
  - We have an entrepreneurial spirit here.
  - The boss is just one of the guys.
  - Staying small is a conscious decision.
3 Biggest Marketing Lies:
  - Immediate delivery?...No problem.
  - We treat every customer as if they were our most important.
  - We're going out to lunch to talk business.
3 Biggest Engineering Professor's Lies:
  - Some day this course will come in handy.
  - These tests are more trouble for me than they are for you.
  - This is the way they do it in industry.
3 Biggest Executive Lies:
  - Money...it's just a score card.
  - If it were up to me, there'd be no assigned parking spaces.
  - You have to twist my arm to get me to go on a business trip.
3 Biggest Hardware Lies:
  - We always design for testablilty.
  - It worked fine on the proto board.
  - That would be much easier to implement in software.



THREE PROPOSITIONS
------------------

1. Software engineering is like looking for a black cat in a dark room.
2. Systems engineering is like looking for a black cat in a dark
   room in which there is no cat.
3. Knowledge engineering is like looking for a black cat in a dark
   room where there is no cat and someone yells, "I got it!".